


My Godfather is an innocent convict.

by Drachma20



Series: Harriet Potter and a bunch of bad descisions [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Evil Dumbledore, Evil Ron Weasley, Female Harry Potter, Genius Harry, Good Malfoy Family, Good Slytherins, Good Voldemort, M/M, Slytherin Harry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-22
Updated: 2017-11-22
Packaged: 2018-09-26 07:03:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 15,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9872726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drachma20/pseuds/Drachma20
Summary: The third book in the series : Harriet Potter and a bunch of bad descisions. Harriet is back for her third year at Hogwarts. After all the stress of the last year, she gets an exciting new bit of news. Or rather terrifying. Her Godfather broke out of Azkaban and is now a wanted man. What will happen this year?





	1. The start of the best Birthday ever!

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoy this story like you seem to have the last two! Many happy reads.

Harriet woke with a muffled scream. She had been suffering from nightmares since the last school years events. Every damn night she saw Pansy look at the Basilisk and die or Blaise bleed out on the floor. Sometimes they were replaced by her other friends. That didn't make it any better though. Harriet shook herself and decided to do her homework.  
"Nightmares again kiddo?" Akira asked slithering up onto the bed and settling on the pillow case wher Harriet had propped 'A history of Magic'. Harriet nodded in answer to the question.  
" Homework though? Seriously? You're such a nerd.  A cool nerd.  But a nerd nonetheless. " Akira said. If she'd had a nose she'd have wrinkled it in dissaproval.  
" It helps." Harriet said shrugging. That was that. Harriet turned her attention towards her homework.  First thing on the to do list was a 3ft essay on Witch burning and why it was pointless. For the nexthour all one could hear was Harriets quill scratching on parchment.  
Then, Hedwig swooped in dropping a few envelopes and a couple of packages onto the bed. They were from her friends. Startled she looked at the calendar and then at the clock. She'd been 13 for an hour without realising it. Today was her birthday. Excitedly she grabbed the first package, forgetting all about the nightmare she'd had. The package was from Pansy. Harriet recognised the swirly handwriting. Carefully she pulled off the wrapping paper. Pansy, true to her character had sent her a lot of sweets and a photo album locket. Harriet silently thanked her. Blaise had sent her a book on dragons. Harriet almost leaped up and bounced on the bed with happiness. Key word: almost. She didn't want to disturb the Malfoys who had been so kind to take her in. Especially not Draco. She knew he suffered from nightmares too and needed all the sleep he could get. But back to the book. She loved Dragons. She always had. Especially since she had been allowed to sit in with Dudley once and watch the movie, How to train your dragon. She knew it probably wasn't 100% accurate but still, she could hope. Theo had sent her a package covered in stickers from St. Mungos. He was being released tomorrow. Last year's events had affected the entire gang. They were diagnosed with PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder ). The package contained a book on physics,  one on chemistry and one on biology. All Muggle subjects. Harriet giggled. Theo was awsome. He knew she hated it that no "normal " subjects were taght at hogwarts. She had received a card from everyone else in the Circlet.  
A few hours ,and a lot of finishing homework, later, Draco raced into her room.  
" Happy birthday!" He yelled.  
" Thank you! " She yelled back. That was when she started bouncing on the bed. Draco joined in.  
"So what did you get?" He asked between bounces.  
Harriet recited the list.  
"OK. " said Draco, "Prepare yourself for the best day of your life. 'Cause we're going somewhere really cool!"


	2. The best day ever.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harriet celebrates her birthday with the Malfoys and Tom.

As it turned out.  Draco was right. Narcissa and Lucius had given Harriet  a camera for her birthday. Harriet immediately took a picture of the Malfoys catching them by suprise. Then they and Tom took her to the wizarding version of a petting zoo. Instead of the normal stuff there were baby dragons. Draco seemed wary of them while Harriet asked if she could feed them. She was delighted when she was given a few packages of raw meat. The baby dragons started cuddling her. By the end, Harriet had given them all names like 'Sherlock' or 'Poseidon'. Tom acctually laughed when she asked if she could keep them. Draco held onto Akira. Narcissa took pictures. Harriet's favourite was the one where she looked like Danerys Targaeryan,  a character out of one of the books she read in the school library.  It was called Game of Thrones . She had loved it.  
"Look Draco, I'm Kahleesi," She called.  
"Who's Kahleesi?" Draco asked confused. Harriet explained the entity of Game of Thrones. After they left the petting zoo, Lucius bought everyone ice-cream. He also bought Harriet a photo album. It was relatively plain and a white colour. Harriet loved customizing things. Everyone had to admit that she was good at it. They ate lunch in a 5 star resteraunt. Harriet couldn't stop smiling. This was the best day ever. In the evening all of the Circlet came to the Malfoy's house for her birthday party. She was having a birthday party!  
Everyone congratulated her. She was almost crying with happiness. The talk of the party was everything fun and food. The Weasley twins cracked a joke every turn they got and sent everyone into fits of laughter. The party went on for a few hours longer before everyone had to go home.  
Narcissa sent Draco and Harriet upstairs to bed as soon as everyone had left. 

The next few weeks flew by before the got a list of their new school books.  
It consisted of:  
-Intermediate Transfiguration  
-The Standard Book of Spells Year 3 by Miranda Goshawk  
-The Monster Book of Monsters  
-Unfogging the Future by Cassandra Vablatsky  
-Numerology and Gramatica  
-Ancient Runes Made Easy  
-Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles  
-The Essential Defence Against the Dark Arts by Arsenius Jigger  
-Wizard Law and Order: the abridged series by Esmeralda Kingston and Harry Worldsworth  
Tom looked over her shoulder and read through the list.  
"Better than last year, huh?" He asked.  
"Yep!" Harriet replied.  
"What are you taking Muggle Studies for?" Draco asked her.  
"Filler subject. " She said.  
After they had finished reading and giving their opinions on their book lists, they went straight to Diagon Ally to buy their stuff. On theirway out of florist and blots, Harriet turned to Draco and said," I think we should try out for the Quidditch team this year."  
"That's what I was going to suggest! "Draco exclaimed.  They decided Harriet was going to try out for seeker and Draco for Chaser.  They met up with the gang later and told them. Pansy remarked that most of the team had left and that the needed 3 Chasers,  2 beaters, 1 seeker and a keeper. Harriet told her that was an entire new team. The Slytherins in the gang all decided to try out just for fun. All except Pansy who despised Physical activity that wasn't ballroom dancing. Harriet had to admit that Ballroom was fun, however she prefered slightly more competitive sports. Later the Circlet met up at the leaky cauldron an spoke about their holidays and an Azkaban breakout.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment or Kudo. Thanx.


	3. Subjects at Lunch.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introducing Dobby.  
> (At the end)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3!   
> Your welcome.

Harriet stared at Percy Weasley.   
"An Azkaban breakout?" She repeated.  
"Yes! This man named Sirius Black broke out while we were in Egypt.  I thought you read the paper!" He said flailing his arms dramatically.   
"I do read the paper! I just haven't read this week's. " She said.  
"That explains why you didn't know until now. Anyway, turns out everyone thinks he's after you which is total crap. He's your Godfather for crying out loud!" Percy exclaimed.   
" OK.  Keep your voice down and he's my what?" Harriet asked slightly shocked.  
"Your Godfather!"  
"Mordred's blade Percy! You can't just spring stuff like that onto people! And how in the name of Helena did you find that out?"  
"I asked my parents. They were friends with yours at school."  
"That's dissapointing. I thought you did something highly illegal and stumbled across that information by accident."  
"As if." Fred butted in.  
"Yeah, that's more our playing field." George added.   
"OK.  So you've got a Godfather who just broke out of Azkaban and You've just been told he's not out to get you. I'm assuming you want to talk to him, so what's the plan?" Pansy asked Harriet. Everyone looked at her expectantly.   
"Well, we need to find him first, don't we?" Harriet said.  
"And how do we do that?" Blaise asked.  
"Don't worry, I'll think of something. Relax!" Harriet told them. Everyone nodded and started talking about something else, namely,  the Weasleys trip to Egypt. They'd been there to visit their brother Bill. He was a curse breaker. Harriet ended up asking more about curse breaking than anything else. The subject eventually turned to school. Percy was very proud of becoming head boy. He also mentioned the ministry had provided cars for their family to come to Diagon Ally. Fred and George joked that it was because of him. And that they should have had flags with HB on them. HB standing for Humongous Bighead. Percy looked at them dissaprovingly whilst the rest of the table snorted into their drinks. Once they had finished their meals they made their way home.  
With one week until school, Harriet started to pack her bags. She also started to draw up a plan on how to contact Sirius Black, the Azkaban escapee and her Godfather. She sighed. How the hell was she going to pull this off. She didn't think he'd accept any mail. He was a fugitive for the sake of Hufflepuff! She kicked her Trunk. Mabye a patronous message. Not likely. She couldn't even cast a patronous so sending a message via one was near to impossible for her. Angrily, she neatly placed her clothes into her trunk.   
She proceeded to pace around the room before she decided to consult the library. She must have stayed in there for hours because Draco had to come fetch her for dinner.   
After dinner Harriet was sitting on her bed. Dobby, the house elf, came into her room bringing her a cup of tea.   
"Thank you,  Dobby." She said.  
"Dobby isn't meaning to pry into Miss. Harriet's personal affairs but Dobby is worried. Miss. Harriet is having nightmares and Dobby wanted to know if Miss. Harriet was alright." Dobby said.  
"I'm fine Dobby, thank you for asking. Say do you know if there are any books on Patronous Charms in this house? "  
"Dobby has seen a few. Shall Dobby go fetch them for Miss. Harriet? "  
"That would be wonderful Dobby."  
Dobby bowed and left the room. Out of all the house elves here, Harriet liked Dobby the best. He always left some cookies on her desk the day after she'd had an extremely bad nightmare.   
Dobby brought her the books and exited the room. Harriet was glad he was always around to help. Then she got down to studying Patroni.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know what the plural for patronous is so I made one up.  
> Hope you don't mind!


	4. Back to School.

The Scarlet steam engine looked the same as always. Harriet smiled and climbed on followed by Draco, Pansy, Blaise, Crabbe, Goyle, Theo and Hermione. They eventually found an almost empty compartment and decided to sit there seeing as the other compartments seemed full or overflowing. There was a man sleeping in the corner.

"Who is this guy?" Pansy asked obviously displeased by his shabby clothes.

"Professor Remus J. Lupin. I assume he's the new D.A.T.D.A teacher." Harriet said evenly.

"Woah! How do you know that?" Blaise asked sounding impressed.

"It's written on his trunk." Hermione said rolling her eyes.

"He looks like a homeless guy." Pansy commented wrinkling her nose.

"Oh lay off. We can't all afford Madelaine Beccari clothes and Quendon Goldington shoes." Harriet told her. She had a feeling the man wasn't acctually asleep. Besides Tom had told her that a Remus Lupin had been friends with her parents and had a good connection to Sirius Black. Better than good from what she'd heard. The name Remus wasn't exactly common. Neither was the name Lupin,

"Whatever." Pansy said shaking her hair out of her face.

The train carried on racing through the countryside.  
It started to rain. Harriet's mood worsened. She went from being bored to being bored and annoyed. She rested her head on the back of the seat and stared at the cieling. Suddenly the train lurched to a halt and Harriet fell forward almost hitting Blaise who was sitting oposite her. Hastily they all got back into their seats and checked for injuries.  
Suddenly it started to get cold. Pansy huddled closer to Hermione and Blaise. Harriet watched as ice spread across the window pane. It felt as if all the happiness was being sucked out of her. She shivered and shrank back int her seat. Opposite her Crabbe and Goyle slowly edged into the corner of the compartment where Draco was pressed against the wall. Then they heard it. A deep rattling breath that sounded like a skeleton trying to breath. Harriet tried to stay calm. She was scared to the bones. Her hands started to shake. She clenched them into fists hoping no one would notice.  
The compartment door slid open.  
A grotesque looking hand wrapped around the frame. It was scabby and looked like rotten flesh. A hooded creature was attached to it. Harriet shrank back. She felt utterly hopeless and weak. The creature turned it's head towards her. Her breath caught in her throat and she panicked. She couldn't breathe.  Air! She needed air! Someone was screaming. Someone needed help. Everything was going dark. Oh Pluto, was she dying?  She couldn't die she needed to save her friends from the thing. Everything went dark.  
"Harriet, wake up! Harriet!"  
Someone was calling her.  
"Come on ringleader!"  
More than one person apparently.  
Slowly she blinked her eyes open. Her eyelids felt heavy.  
"What in the name of Hela happened?" She groaned. Her head hurt.  
"Dementors. " the man known as Lupin said, "nasty creatures.  They suck all the happiness out of people and make them relive their worst memories. Eat this. You'll feel better."  
He handed her some chocolate.  
Harriet obediently took it. They all sat in silence until the train pulled into Hogsmead station. Getting off, Harriet pulled her cloak closer around herself and hurried towards the carriges that would take them towards the school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment or Kudo. Thanx!


	5. The Quest to find the Divination Classroom.

After the choir had finished singing their song, it was time for the sorting. Harriet wished they'd hurry up. She was hungry. There were quite a few new students. Her stomach growled in protest. After the sorting Dumbledore stood up and adressed the students.

"Welcome," he said,"to another year at Hogwarts. As you may all have noticed our school is playing host to some of the dementors of Azkaban who are here on ministry of magic buisness. They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds. It is not in the nature of Dementors to understand pleading or excuses. I therefore warn each of you, give them no reason to harm you. I look to our prefects and our new head boy and girl to make sure no student runs foul of the dementors."

There were murmurs of worry that flew around the hall. Harriet and Draco shared worried glances.

"On a better note," Dumbledore continued," I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks. Professor Lupin who is our new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher and Professor Hagrid our care of magical creatures professor."

The students applauded. Harriet leaned to Draco and said,"The good news, our new D.A.T.D.A teacher knows his stuff judging by what pansy told me about him casting a patronus. The bad news, our new care of magical creatures teacher is incompetent and set us a book that will try to eat us."

Draco nodded," At least we wont have to worry about Dumbledore if we're dead."

They both took a deep breathe and settled back ino their seats. The feast then began. Everyone stuffed their faces as usual. Harriet made a mental note to talk to Professor Lupin.

The next day at breakfast they all recieved their new time tables. Hermione had recieved a time turner from Professor McGonagall earlier on because some of her classses were at the same time. Professor Snape had managed to make Harriet's timetable possible to keep without one.

The gang had Divination as their first lesson. Harriet prayed that the teacher was ok. She'd heard a few crazy things about Professor Trilewany.

They ran to the classroom. It was at the top of North tower. They almost got lost if it hadn't been for the valiant sir Cadogan who aided them in their quest to find the classroom.   
"Like a true knight," Harriet had said jokingly.   
Sir Cadogan had taken this as a serious complement and had bowed to her calling her 'Princess Harriet' or 'my Lady' obviously thinking she was a girl of higher standing. No one dared to correct him. Pansy had found this very amusing until Sir Cadogan refered to her as the handmaiden. She didn't utter another word all the way to the classroom. The rest of the gang tried to conceal their laughter. Hermione took this a step further and carried Harriet's bag for her. When they arrived in the classroom they were hit by a cloud of something's sickly sweet smell that made Harriet want to throw up. She went to one of the empty tables and sat down with Hermione and Pansy. The guys grabbed the table next to them.  Hermione turned up her nose at the decor. Harriet had to admit, it looked horrible. The ruby armchairs clashed with the Bubblegum curtains and Salmon carpets. The rosewood floor and sepia lamps didn't help. Pansy looked ready to burn the classroom with a blowtorch and redecorate. To be honest, Harriet wouldn't put it past her. She glanced at the guys who seemed overwhelmed by the pink.  
"Hello, " a voice that sounded like it was on drugs said. Everyone whirled around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment or Kudo. Thanx.


	6. Divination and death.

There stood Professor Trilewany. She was wearing something that resembled one of those wierd fortune teller outfits that you saw at every fun fair. She was also wearing oversized glasses and her hair looked windswept.   
　"Welcome," she said. "How nice to see you in the physical world at last."  
Harriet's immediate impression was of someone who had gotten sky high before the lesson.   
"Sit, my children, sit," she said,"Welcome to Divination," said Professor Trelawney,  "My name is professor Trelawney. You may not have seen me before. I find that descending too often into the hustle and bustle of the main school clouds my Inner Eye."  
　Nobody said anything to this extraordinary pronouncement. Professor Trelawney delicately rearranged her shawl and continued, "So you have chosen to study Divination, the most difficult of all magical arts. I must warn you at the outset that if you do not have the Sight, there is very little I will be able to teach you.. Books can take you only so far in this field... But for now I shall do my best to teach you to predict the future! "  
After this sentance she walked into a table.  
"I think her inner eye might need glasses or a monocle. " Pansy commented quietly.   
"Or it went blind." Harriet replied in a whisper. Hermione tried to keep her face straight.  At the same time she managed to look horrified that their teacher appeared to be completely useless in their subject.  
"Many witches and wizards, talented though they are in the area of loud bangs and smells and sudden disappearings, are yet unable to penetrate the veiled mysteries of the future," Professor Trelawney went on, her enormous, gleaming eyes moving from face to nervous face. "It is a Gift granted to few. You, boy," she said suddenly to Neville, who almost toppled off his pouf. "Is your grandmother well?"  
"I think so," said Neville tremulously.  
"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you, dear," said Professor Trelawney, the firelight glinting on her long emerald earrings. Neville gulped. Professor Trelawney continued placidly. "We will be covering the basic methods of Divination this year. The first term will be devoted to reading the tea leaves. Next term we shall progress to palmistry. By the way, my dear," she shot suddenly at Parvati Patil, "beware a red-haired man."  
Parvati gave a startled look at Ron, who was right behind her and chewing gum. She edged her chair away from him.  
"In the second term," Professor Trelawney went on, "we shall progress to the crystal ball -- if we have finished with fire omens, that is. Unfortunately, classes will be disrupted in February by a nasty bout of flu. I myself will lose my voice. And around Easter, one of our number will leave us forever."  
A very tense silence followed this pronouncement, but Professor Trelawney seemed unaware of it.  
"I wonder, dear," she said to Lavender Brown, who was nearest and shrank back in her chair, "if you could pass me the largest silver teapot?"  
Lavender, looking relieved, stood up, took an enormous teapot from the shelf, and put it down on the table in front of Professor Trelawney.  
"Thank you, my dear. Incidentally, that thing you are dreading -- it will happen on Friday the sixteenth of October."  
Lavender trembled.  
"Now, I want you all to divide into pairs. Collect a teacup from the shelf, come to me, and I will fill it. Then sit down and drink, drink until only the dregs remain. Swill these around the cup three times with the left hand, then turn the cup upside down on its saucer, wait for the last of the tea to drain away, then give your cup to your partner to read. You will interpret the patterns using pages five and six of Unfogging the Future. I shall move among you, helping and instructing. Oh, and dear" -- she caught Neville by the arm as he made to stand up -- "after you've broken your first cup, would you be so kind as to select one of the blue patterned ones? I'm rather attached to the pink."  
Sure enough, Neville had no sooner reached the shelf of teacups when there was a tinkle of breaking china. Professor Trelawney swept over to him holding a dustpan and brush and said, "One of the blue ones, then, dear, if you wouldn't mind... thank you. ... "  
　　  
When Harriet, Pansy and Hermione had had their teacups filled, they went back to their table and tried to drink the scalding tea quickly. They swilled the dregs around as Professor Trelawney had instructed, then drained the cups and swapped over.  
"Right," said Pansy as they all opened their books at pages five and six. "What can you see in mine?"  
"A load of soggy brown stuff," said Harriet. The heavily perfumed smoke in the room was making her feel sleepy and stupid.  
"Broaden your minds, my dears, and allow your eyes to see past the mundane!" Professor Trelawney cried through the gloom.  
Harriet tried to pull herself together.  
"Right, you've got a crooked sort of cross... " She consulted Unfogging the Future. "That means you're going to have 'trials and suffering' -- sorry about that -- but there's a thing that could be the sun... hang on... that means 'great happiness'... so you're going to suffer but be very happy...."  
　　"You need your Inner Eye tested, if you ask me," said Hermione, and they all had to stifle their laughs as Professor Trelawney gazed in their direction.  
　　"My turn..."Pansy peered into Harriet's teacup, her forehead wrinkled with effort. "There's a blob a bit like a bowler hat," she said. "Maybe you're going to work for the Ministry of Magic...  
　She turned the teacup the other way up.  
　　"But this way it looks more like an acorn.... What's that?" She scanned her copy of Unfogging the Future. "'A windfall, unexpected gold.' Excellent, you can buy some decent clothes. I don't know why you hang onto those rags anyway... and there's a thin, here," she turned the cup again, "that looks like an animal... yeah, if that was its head... it looks like a hippo... no, a sheep..."  
Professor Trelawney whirled around as Harriet let out a snort of laughter.  
"Let me see that, my dear," she said reprovingly to Pansy, sweeping over and snatching Harriet's 's cup from her. Everyone went quiet to watch.  
Professor Trelawney was staring into the teacup, rotating it counterclockwise.  
　　"The falcon... my dear, you have a deadly enemy."  
　　"But everyone knows that, " said Hermione in a loud whisper. Professor Trelawney stared at her.  
　　"Well, they do," said Hermione. "Everybody knows about Harriet and You-Know-Who."  
Harriet and Pansy breathed a sigh of relief.  Hermione hadn't spilled the secret that only members of the Circlet knew.  
"The club... an attack. Dear, dear, this is not a happy cup....The skull... danger in your path, my dear...."  
Everyone was staring, transfixed, at Professor Trelawney, who gave the cup a final turn, gasped, and then screamed.  
There was another tinkle of breaking china; Neville had smashed his second cup. Professor Trelawney sank into a vacant armchair, her glittering hand at her heart and her eyes closed.  
　　"My dear child... my poor, dear child....no it is kinder not to say.. . no... don't ask me...."  
　　"What is it, Professor?" said Dean Thomas at once. Everyone had got to their feet, and slowly they crowded around Harry and Ron's table, pressing close to Professor Trelawney's chair to get a good look at Harriet's cup.  
"My dear," Professor Trelawney's huge eyes opened dramatically,"You have the Grim."  
"The what?" said Pansy. She had gone pale.  
"The omen of death," Harriet elaborated for her. She didn't let it show that she was a bit worried.   
"I know what the Grim is!" Pansy snapped back.  
Trilewany decided to end the lesson there.  
The gang descended Professor Trelawney's ladder and the winding stairs in silence, then set off for Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration lesson. It took them so long to find her classroom that, early as they had left Divination, they were only just in time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment or Kudo. Thanx.


	7. Hippogriffs.

Harriet chose a seat right at the back of the classroom. She noticed that no one was paying attention to what Professor McGonagall was saying about Animagi. She thought being able to turn into an animal sounded really cool and took as many notes as possible. She burst into applause when McGonagall turned into a cat. Everyone else seemed to distracted by the death prophecy Trilewany had given. Honestly, she didn't believe a word.  
　　"Really, what has got into you all today?" said Professor McGonagall, turning back into herself with a faint pop, and staring around at them all. "Not that it matters, but that's the first time my transformation's not got applause from everyone in a class."  
Everybody's heads turned toward Harriet  once again, but nobody spoke. Then Hermione raised her hand.  
"Please, Professor, we've just had our first Divination class, and we were reading the tea leaves, and --"  
"Ah, of course," said Professor McGonagall, suddenly frowning.  
"There is no need to say any more, Miss Granger. Tell me, which of you will be dying this year?"  
Everyone stared at her.  
"Me," yawned Harriet.  
"I see," said Professor McGonagall, fixing Harriet with her beady eyes. "Then you should know, Potter, that Sibyll Trelawney has predicted the death of one student a year since she arrived at this school. None of them has died yet. Seeing death omens is her favorite way of greeting a new class. If it were not for the fact that I never speak ill of my colleagues --"  
Professor McGonagall broke off, and they saw that her nostrils had gone white. She went on, more calmly, "Divination is one of the most imprecise branches of magic. I shall not conceal from you that I have very little patience with it. True Seers are very rare, and Professor Trelawney --"  
She stopped again, and then said, in a very matter-of-fact tone, "You look in excellent health to me, Potter, so you will excuse me if I don't let you off homework today. I assure you that if you die, you need not hand it in."  
The gang laughed.  Ron still looked hopeful that she might die, and Lavender whispered, "But what about Neville's cup?"  
After Transfiguration they headed to Lunch. Hermione and Theo sat at the Slytherin table with the others.

Harriet was pleased to get out of the castle after lunch. Yesterday's rain had cleared; the sky was a clear, pale gray, and the grass was springy and damp underfoot as they set off for their first ever Care of Magical Creatures class.  
The gang walked in silence as they went down the sloping lawns to Hagrid's hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Harriet hoped the lessons wouldn't start with hell hounds or fire worms.  
　　Hagrid was waiting for his class at the door of his hut. He stood in his moleskin overcoat, with Fang the boarhound at his heels, looking impatient to start.  
　　"C'mon, now, get a move on!" he called as the class approached. "Got a real treat for yeh today! Great lesson comin' up! Everyone here? Right, follow me!"  
He strolled off around the edge of the trees, and five minutes later, they found themselves outside a kind of paddock. There was nothing in there.  
　　"Everyone gather 'round the fence here!" he called. "That's it -- make sure yeh can see -- now, firs' thing yeh'll want ter do is open yer books --"  
"How?" someone asked.  
"Eh?" said Hagrid.  
"How do we open our books?" Someone else repeated for him. He took out his copy of The Monster Book of Monsters, which he had bound shut with a length of rope. Other people took theirs out too; some, like Hermione, had belted their book shut; others had crammed them inside tight bags or clamped them together with binder clips. Harriet had magically nailed hers shut.  
"Hasn' -- hasn' anyone bin able ter open their books?" said Hagrid, looking crestfallen.  
The class all shook their heads.  
"Yeh've got ter stroke 'em," said Hagrid, as though this was the most obvious thing in the world. "Look --"  
He took Hermione's copy and ripped off the belt that bound it. The book tried to bite, but Hagrid ran a giant forefinger down its spine, and the book shivered, and then fell open and lay quiet in his hand.  
"Oh, how silly we've all been!" Ron sneered. "We should have stroked them! why didn't we guess!"  
"I -- I thought they were funny," Hagrid said uncertainly to Hermione.  
"Oh, tremendously funny!" said Ron. "Really witty, giving us books that try and rip our hands off!"  
"Shut up, Weaselby," said Harry quietly. Hagrid was looking downcast and Harriet, though she thought he was an incompetent teacher, wanted Hagrid's first lesson to be a success.  
　　"Righ' then," said Hagrid, who seemed to have lost his thread, "so -- so yeh've got yer books an' -- an' - - now yeh need the Magical Creatures. Yeah. So I'll go an' get 'em. Hang on... "  
He strode away from them into the forest and out of sight.  
"Oooooooh!" squealed Lavender Brown, pointing toward the opposite side of the paddock about 5 minutes later.  
Trotting toward them were a dozen of Hippogriffs. They had the bodies, hind legs, and tails of horses, but the front legs, wings, and heads of what seemed to be giant eagles, with cruel, steel-colored beaks and large, brilliantly, orange eyes. The talons on their front legs were half a foot long and deadly looking. Each of the beasts had a thick leather collar around its neck, which was attached to a long chain, and the ends of all of these were held in the vast hands of Hagrid, who came jogging into the paddock behind the creatures.  
　　"Gee up, there!" he roared, shaking the chains and urging the creatures toward the fence where the class stood. Everyone drew back slightly as Hagrid reached them and tethered the creatures to the fence.  
　　"Hippogriffs!" Hagrid roared happily, waving a hand at them. "Beau'iful, aren' they?"  
The gang shared looks. They were beautiful, but were they safe?  
"So," said Hagrid, rubbing his hands together and beaming around, "if yeh wan' ter come a bit nearer --"  
No one seemed to want to. Harriet, however, approached the fence cautiously.  
　"Now, firs' thing yeh gotta know abou' hippogriffs is, they're proud," said Hagrid. "Easily offended, hippogriffs are. Don't never insult one, 'cause it might be the last thing yeh do."  
"Yeh always wait fer the hippogriff ter make the firs' move," Hagrid continued. "It's polite, see? Yeh walk toward him, and yeh bow, an' yeh wait. If he bows back, yeh're allowed ter touch him. If he doesn' bow, then get away from him sharpish, 'cause those talons hurt.  
"Right -- who wants ter go first?"  
Most of the class backed farther away in answer.  
"I'll do it," said Harriet. She was curious as to what they were like.  
There was an intake of breath from behind her, and both Lavender and Parvati whispered, "Oooh, no, Harriet, remember your tea leaves!"  
Harriet ignored them rolling her eyes. She climbed over the paddock fence.  
"Right then -- let's see how yeh get on with Buckbeak." Hagrid said to her  
　　He untied one of the chains, pulled the gray hippogriff away from its fellows, and slipped off its leather collar. The class on the other side of the paddock seemed to be holding its breath. Malfoy's eyes flickered nervously.  
"Easy now, Harriet," said Hagrid quietly. "Yeh've got eye contact, now try not ter blink.... Hippogriffs don' trust yeh if yeh blink too much...."  
Harriet's eyes began to water, but she didn't shut thern. Buckbeak had turned his great, sharp head and was staring at Harriet with one fierce orange eye. "Tha's it," said Hagrid. "Tha's it, Harriet... now, bow."  
Harriet didn't feel much like exposing the back of her neck to Buckbeak, but did as she was told. She gave a short bow and then looked up.  
The hippogriff was still staring haughtily at her. It didn't move.  
　　"Ah," said Hagrid, sounding worried. "Right -- back away, now, Harriet, easy does it."  
But then, to Harriet's enormous surprise, the hippogriff suddenly bent its scaly front knees and sank into what was an unmistakable bow.  
　　"Well done, Harry!" said Hagrid, ecstatic. "Right -- yeh can touch him! Pat his beak, go on!"  
Harriet moved slowly toward the hippogriff and reached out toward it. She patted the beak several times and the hippogriff closed its eyes lazily, as though enjoying it.  
The class broke into applause.  
"Righ' then, Harriet," said Hagrid. "I reckon he might' let yeh ride him!"  
This was more than Harriet had bargained for. A feeling of excitement ran through her. Flying a Hippogriff! That sounded awsome.  
"Yeh climb up there, jus' behind the wing joint," said Hagrid, "an' mind yeh don' pull any of his feathers out, he won' like that...."  
Harriet put her foot on the top of Buckbeaks wing and hoisted herself onto its back. Buckbeak stood up. Harriet wasn't sure where to hold on; everything in front of her was covered with feathers and she didn't want to pull any out.  
"Go on, then'" roared Hagrid, slapping the hippogriffs hindquarters.  
Without warning, twelve-foot wings flapped open on either side of Harriet, she just had time to seize the hippogriff around the neck before they were soaring upward. She loved it! Flying was amazing!  
Buckbeak flew her once around the paddock and then headed back to the ground. Harriet wanted to go again.  
"Good work, Harriet!" roared Hagrid as everyone  cheered. "Okay, who else wants a go?"  
Emboldened by Harriet's success, the rest of the class climbed cautiously into the paddock. Hagrid untied the hippogriffs one by one, and soon people were bowing nervously, all over the paddock. Neville ran repeatedly backward from his, which didn't seem to want to bend its knees. The gang were all bowing to Buckbeak and petting him. It looked as if Buckbeak was enjoying all the attention. In Harriet's opinion, class was over far to soon. She had to admit. Hagrid knew his subject.  
They were among the first to reach the Great Hall at dinnertime. Harriet couldn't stop talking about the creatures she had seen today.  Hippogriffs were amazing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment or Kudo. Thanx.


	8. Boggarts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took longer than expected.

"Hey, Harriet," said Seamus Finnigan, the next day at breakfast, "have you heard? Daily Prophet this morning -- they reckon Sirius Black's been sighted."  
"Where?" said Harriet and Pansy quickly. On the other side of the table, Malfoy looked up, listening closely.  
"Not too far from here," said Seamus, who looked excited. "It was a Muggle who saw him. 'Course, she didn't really understand. The Muggles think he's just an ordinary criminal, don't they? So she phoned the telephone hot line. By the time the Ministry of Magic got there, he was gone."  
"Not too far from here... " Pansy repeated, looking significantly at Harriet.   
Harriet smirked, her mind forming a plan. She knew how to contact him now.  
"Thanks for the info, Seamus." She said," let me know if there's anything else. "  
"Will do!" Seamus said grinning.   
Harriet guessed Hermione had put in a very good word for her amongst the Gryffindor students. In the past few days more and more students had come up to her introducing themselves and giving her pieces of information they thought might interest her. This wasn't just true for the Gryffindors either.  Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw seemed to do so as well. Jiyu Burokami had obviously convinced the entirety of Hufflepuff that she was awsome.   
She and the others made their way to defense against the dark arts.   
Professor Lupin wasn't there when they arrived at his first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson. They all sat down, took out their books, quills, and parchment, and were talking when he finally entered the room. Lupin smiled vaguely and placed his tatty old briefcase on the teacher's desk. He was as shabby as ever but looked healthier than he had on the train, as though he had had a few square meals.  
"Good afternoon," he said. "Would you please put all your books back in your bags. Today's will be a practical lesson. You will need only your wands."  
A few curious looks were exchanged as the class put away their books. They had never had a practical Defense Against the Dark Arts before, unless you counted the memorable class last year when their old teacher had brought a cageful of pixies -to class and set them loose. Harriet gripped her wand extra tight remembering the incident.   
"Right then," said Professor Lupin, when everyone was ready. "If you'd follow me."  
Puzzled but interested, the class got to its feet and followed Professor Lupin out of the classroom. He led them along the deserted corridor and around a corner, where the first thing they saw was Peeves the Poltergeist, who was floating upside down in midair and stuffing the nearest keyhole with chewing gum.  
　　Peeves didn't look up until Professor Lupin was two feet away; ,hen he wiggled his curly-toed feet and broke into song.  
"Loony, loopy Lupin," Peeves sang. "Loony, loopy Lupin, loony, loopy Lupin --"  
　　Rude and unmanageable as he almost always was, Peeves usually showed some respect toward the teachers. Everyone looked quickly at Professor Lupin to see how he would take this; to their surprise, he was still smiling.  
　　"I'd take that gum out of the keyhole if I were you, Peeves," he said pleasantly. "Mr. Filch won't be able to get in to his brooms."  
　　Filch was the Hogwarts caretaker, a bad-tempered, failed wizard who waged a constant war against the students and, indeed, Peeves. However, Peeves paid no attention to Professor Lupin's words, except to blow a loud wet raspberry.  
　　Professor Lupin gave a small sigh and took out his wand.  
　　"This is a useful little spell, he told the class over his shoulder. "Please watch closely."  
　　He raised the wand to shoulder height, said, "Waddiwasi! "and pointed it at Peeves.  
　　With the force of a bullet, the wad of chewing gum shot out of the keyhole and straight down Peeves's left nostril; he whirled upright and zoomed away, cursing.  
　　"Cool, sir!" said Dean Thomas in amazement.  
　　"Thank you, Dean," said Professor Lupin, putting his wand away again. "Shall we proceed?"  
Harriet wrote down the spell in a notebook she'd gotten from staples. She ran a black market on Muggle school supplies.  The ball point pens were popular.   
They set off again, the class looking at shabby Professor Lupin with increased respect. He led them down a second corridor and stopped, right outside the staffroom door.  
"Inside, please," said Professor Lupin, opening it and standing back.  
The staffroom, a long, paneled room full of old, mismatched chairs, was empty except for one teacher. Professor Snape was sitting in a low armchair, and he looked around as the class filed in.  As Professor Lupin came in and made to close the door behind him, Snape said, "Leave it open, Lupin."  
He got to his feet and strode past the class, his black robes billowing behind him. He left with a flourish.  
"Now, then," said Professor Lupin, beckoning the class toward the end of the room, where there was nothing but an old wardrobe where the teachers kept their spare robes. As Professor Lupin went to stand next to it, the wardrobe gave a sudden wobble, banging off the wall.  
　　"Nothing to worry about," said Professor Lupin calmly because a few people had jumped backward in alarm. "There's a boggart in there."  
　　Most people seemed to feel that this was something to worry about. Neville gave Professor Lupin a look of pure terror, and Seamus Finnigan eyed the now rattling doorknob apprehensively.  
"Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces," said Professor Lupin. "Wardrobes, the gap beneath beds, the cupboards under sinks -- I've even met one that had lodged itself in a grandfather clock. This one moved in yesterday afternoon, and I asked the headmaster if the staff would leave it to give my third years some practice.  
　　"So, the first question we must ask ourselves is, what is a boggart?"  
　　Hermione put up her hand.  
　　"It's a shape-shifter," she said. "It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us most."  
　　"Couldn't have put it better myself," said Professor Lupin, and Hermione glowed. "So the boggart sitting in the darkness within has not yet assumed a form. He does not yet know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. Nobody knows what a boggart looks like when he is alone, but when I let him out, he will immediately become whatever each of us most fears.  
　　"This means," said Professor Lupin, choosing to ignore Neville's 'mall sputter of terror, "that we have a huge advantage over the boggart before we begin. Have you spotted it, Harriet?"  
"There are so many of us that it won't find something to scare us all." Harriet said calmly.  
"Precisely," said Professor Lupin, and Hermione put her hand down, looking a little disappointed. "It's always best to have company when you're dealing with a boggart. He becomes confused. Which should he become, a headless corpse or a flesh-eating slug? I once saw a boggart make that very mistake -- tried to frighten two people at once and turned himself into half a slug. Not remotely frightening.  
　　"The charm that repels a boggart is simple, yet it requires force of mind. You see, the thing that really finishes a boggart is laughter. What you need to do is force it to assume a shape that you find amusing.  
　　"We will practice the charm without wands first. After me, please ... Riddikulus!"  
　　"Riddikulus!" said the class together.  
　　"Good," said Professor Lupin. "Very good. But that was the easy part, I'm afraid. You see, the word alone is not enough. And this is where you come in, Neville."  
　　The wardrobe shook again, though not as much as Neville, who walked forward as though he were heading for the gallows.  
　　"Right, Neville," said Professor Lupin. "First things first: what would you say is the thing that frightens you most in the world?"  
　　Neville's lips moved, but no noise came out.  
　　"didn't catch that, Neville, sorry," said Professor Lupin cheerfully.  
　　Neville looked around rather wildly, as though begging someone to help him, then said, in barely more than a whisper, "Professor Snape."  
　　Nearly everyone laughed. Even Neville grinned apologetically. Professor Lupin, however, looked thoughtful.  
　　"Professor Snape... hmmm... Neville, I believe you live with your grandmother?"  
　　"Er -- yes," said Neville nervously. "But -- I don't want the boggart to turn into her either."  
　　"No, no, you misunderstand me," said Professor Lupin, now smiling. "I wonder, could you tell us what sort of clothes your grandmother usually wears?"  
　　Neville looked startled, but said, "Well... always the same hat. A tall one with a stuffed vulture on top. And a long dress... green, normally... and sometimes a fox-fur scarf."  
　　"And a handbag?" prompted Professor Lupin.  
　　"A big red one," said Neville.  
　　"Right then," said Professor Lupin. "Can you picture those clothes very clearly, Neville? Can you see them in your mind's eye?"  
　　"Yes," said Neville uncertainty, plainly wondering what was coming next.  
　　"When the boggart bursts out of this wardrobe, Neville, and sees You, it will assume the form of Professor Snape," said Lupin. "And You will raise your wand -- thus -- and cry 'Riddikulus' -- and concentrate hard on your grandmother's clothes. If all goes well, Professor Boggart Snape will be forced into that vulture-topped hat, and that green dress, with that big red handbag."  
　　There was a great shout of laughter. The wardrobe wobbled more violently.  
　　"If Neville is successful, the boggart is likely to shift his attention to each of us in turn," said Professor Lupin. "I would like all of you to take a moment now to think of the thing that scares you most, and imagine how you might force it to look comical...."  
The room went quiet. Harriet thought... 'What scared her most in the world?  
　　"Everyone ready?" said Professor Lupin.  
Harriet desperately tried to come up with something that terrified her.  
　　"Neville, we're going to back away," said Professor Lupin. "Let you have a clear field, all right? I'll call the next person forward.... Everyone back, now, so Neville can get a clear shot --"  
　　They all retreated, backed against the walls, leaving Neville alone beside the wardrobe. He looked pale and frightened, but he had pushed up the sleeves of his robes and was holding his wand ready.  
　　"On the count of three, Neville," said Professor Lupin, who was  
　　pointing his own wand at the handle of the wardrobe. "One two -- three -- now!"  
　　A jet of sparks shot from the end of Professor Lupin's wand and hit the doorknob. The wardrobe burst open. Hook-nosed and menacing, Professor Snape stepped out, his eyes flashing at Neville.  
　　Neville backed away, his wand up, mouthing wordlessly. Snape was bearing down upon him, reaching inside his robes.  
　　"R -- r -- riddikulus! "squeaked Neville.  
　　There was a noise like a whip crack. Snape stumbled; he was wearing a long, lace-trimmed dress and a towering hat topped with a moth-eaten vulture, and he was swinging a huge crimson handbag.  
　　There was a roar of laughter; the boggart paused, confused, and Professor Lupin shouted, "Parvati! Forward!"  
　　Parvati walked forward, her face set. Snape rounded on her. There was another crack, and where he had stood was a bloodstained, bandaged mummy; its sightless face was turned to Parvati and it began to walk toward her very slowly, dragging its feet, its stiff arms rising --  
　　"Riddikulus!" cried Parvati.  
　　A bandage unraveled at the mummy's feet; it became entangled, fell face forward, and its head rolled off.  
　　"Seamus!" roared Professor Lupin.  
　　Seamus darted past Parvati.  
　　Crack! Where the mummy had been was a woman with floorlength black hair and a skeletal, green-tinged face -- a banshee. She opened her mouth wide and an unearthly sound filled the room, a long, wailing shriek that made the hair on Harry's head stand on end -- 'Riddikulus!" shouted Seamus.  
　　The banshee made a rasping noise and clutched her throat; her voice was gone.  
　　Crack! The banshee turned into a rat, which chased its tail in a circle, then -- crack!- became a rattlesnake, which slithered and writhed before -- crack! -- becoming a single, bloody eyeball.  
　　'It's confused!" shouted Lupin. "We're getting there! Dean!"  
　　Dean hurried forward.  
　　Crack! The eyeball became a severed hand, which flipped over and began to creep along the floor like a crab.  
　　"Riddikulus!" yelled Dean.  
　　'There was a snap, and the hand was trapped in a mousetrap right  at Harriet's feet. She raised her wand, ready. The boggart kept changing forms rapidly. Then suddenly, the room went cold. The boggart morphed into a dementor.  
"Here!" shouted Professor Lupin suddenly, hurrying forward. Crack!  
The dementor had vanished. For a second, everyone looked wildly around to see where it was. Then they saw a silvery-white orb hanging in the air in front of Lupin, who said, "Riddikulus!" almosi lazily.  
　　Crack!  
　　"Forward, Neville, and finish him off!" said Lupin as the boggart landed on the floor as a cockroach. Crack! Snape was back. This time Neville charged forward looking determined.  
　　"Riddikulus!" he shouted, and they had a split second's view of Snape in his lacy dress before Neville let out a great "Ha!" of laughter, and the boggart exploded, burst into a thousand tiny wisps of smoke, and was gone.  
　　"Excellent!" cried Professor Lupin as the class broke into applause. "Excellent Neville. Well done, everyone.... Let me See... five points to Gryffindor for every person to tackle the boggart -- ten for Neville because he did it twice... and five each to Hermione and Harriet."  
　　"But I didn't do anything," said Harriet.  
　　"You and Hermione answered my questions correctly at the start of the class, Harriet," Lupin said lightly. "Very well, everyone, an excellent lesson. Homework, kindly read the chapter on boggarts and summarize it for me... to be handed in on Monday. That will be all."  
　　

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment or Kudo. Thanx.


	9. Quidditch tryouts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the short chapter! I had a writers block for a really long time. My sincerest apologies for not updating sooner.

It was Saturday.  The Slytherins in the gang had woken up extra early (all except Pansy). Harriet on the top of the wardrobe. Sleep climbing. Again. They were going to try out for the team. Professor Snape was in charge of picking from a lot of students.   
First up was flying. Everyone grabbed a broomstick and kicked off on his command. Their task? Simply fly around until ordered to come down. Showing off is encouraged.   
Draco and Harriet did some risky flight manoeuvres, steep dives and kick ass stunts. Crabbe and Goyle flew behind them 'watching their backs'. Blaise behind them keeping them in line. Harriet admitted to herself that she loved showing off to some degree.  
Draco looked like he was having the time of his life. Crabbe and Goyle looked like those stereotypical bodyguards you saw in movies. Blaise looked like he was wondering what he should have for dinner.  
Snape was watching everyone like a hawk.  
After they had landed, Snape sorted them into groups. Draco glanced at his friends.  Harriet looked practically delicate compared to the other seeker try outers. He gave her the thumbs up as reassurance.  She looked nervous.  
After that they played 2min sets with an enchanted golf ball as the Snitch.   
It was harder to catch that thing than Harriet thought it would be. She succeeded anyway and her friends on the ground cheering for her was worth the trouble.   
After the tryouts Harriet hogged one of the showers in the Slytherin girls bathroom for about half an hour.   
After she had dressed she joined the others and headed to Lunch. Hermione joined them a bit later.  
"So, Harriet,  any plans to contact your Godfather yet?" Was the first thing she said.  
Harriet sighed, "I have a few ideas but I need to get into Hogsmead first. I also need a map of the school grounds. "  
"OK." Hermione said.  It took Harriet a moment to realise everyone was waiting for her to continue. She took a deep breath and went on.  
"There are secret passageways in and out of Hogwarts.  I'm pretty sure I've found them all but I need to check. After I've contacted him, we sneak him into the shrieking shack until we've found a more secure place wher he won't get found."  
"Got it." Everyone else chorused. Harriet nodded once.  
"Fall out." She said and left her friends  sitting in the great hall as she made her way to the owlery. What the hell was she going to write in a letter to a fugitive.   
"Great.  My godfather is an innocent convict. " She said to herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again. Sorry for the long wait.   
> Comment or Kudo.   
> Thanx.


	10. When teachers speak with students.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hints of Wolfstar. Plot continues. etc.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long. I've been really busy with exams and other sh*t.

Harriet wasn't in the best mood. Still no reply.  Of course she understood that her godfather was a wanted man but seriously? It couldn't take that long to answer a bloody letter, could it? She kicked her feet up on the owlery table waiting. It had been a while since she had sent Hedwig off to find her Godfather.

A while away, in the small town of Hogsmeade, a man was sitting hidden in an allyway. A snowy owl was perched on his shoulder as he read the letter in his hands. The handwriting on it was relatively neat. That of someone who took great care of what they had. The words on it meant a lot to the man.

'To Sirius Black,  
My name is Harriet Potter. Your friend James Potter's kid.'

Harriet, his godkid, his little prongslet was writing to him!

'I'm writing to let you know that I know that you're innocent regarding the betrayal of my parents. '

His face darkened at that. A kid shouldn't be writing ,let alone thinking about, things like that. This was all Dumbledore's fault. 

'I thought you might need some help hiding from Azkaban so some friends and I decided to offer you some help.'

Sirius was reminded strongly of his best friend ,James Potter, who could somehow manage to do anything he put his mind to. He had a strong feeling Harriet was similar. 

'Basically, the plan is to sneak you in through Honeydukes using my invisibility cloak, through the school grounds and into the shrieking shack until we find a better place. We would keep you in the common room but we're relatively sure that the new prefects are Snitches. '

Sirius could imagine Lilly Potter's eyebrows of dissaproval at this point. It was clear that Prongslet went by the snitches get stiches rule.

'Anyway, please reply A.S.A.P.   
Thanks,  
H.P.'

Sirius got up. He thought for a moment.  Should he accept the help offered or ignore the letter. It probably would have been smarter to ignore it but it was so classically James and Lilly he couldn't resist. Transforming into a huge black dog, he went off in search of something to reply on. The snowy owl following him. 

Huffing, Harriet got up and walked around the school. Hogsmeade visits were starting next week. She was so lost in thought that she didn't notice Pansy calling her until she rammed into Harriet's side.  
"Ow!Crap!Pansy!" Harriet exclaimed.   
"I've been calling for about five minutes. Also, Lupin would like to see you." Pansy said obviously out of breath.   
"Lupin? What did he want?"  
"He didn't say."  
"OK then."  
Harriet walked in the direction of Lupins office in her 'buissnes pace' as her friends had dubbed it. She straightened her clothes and knocked on the door.  
"Come in!" Lupin called.  
Harriet stepped into the office. It looked nothing like last year (something Harriet was greatful for). She wouldn't be able to stand another Lockhart. Luckily, Lupin was nothing like the guy.  
"Ah, Harriet! Nice to see you! Would you like some tea?"He asked.  
"Yes please!" Harriet said suprised.  No teacher had offered her tea before. Since when did things like that happen?  
"Sit down, sit down! Make yourself comfortable. " Lupin said kindly.  
Harriet sat on one of the chairs. Something in the corner caught her eye.  
"A Grindelow, sir?" She asked.  
"Yes, I'm suprised you knew that. Not many third years know a Grindelow when they see one."  
"I have an interest in magical creatures."  
"So did your mother."  
Harriet gaped slightly.   
"Yes,"Lupin said, "I knew your parents well. They were my best friends at school, along with Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew. "  
"I'm assuming you're no fan of the current press about my godfather then?" Harriet asked carefully.   
Lupin nodded sadly and handed Harriet her tea. He looked out of the window seeming lost.  
'Like a wolf without his mate,' Harriet thought. She decided to ask him the possibly worst question in her mind right now.  
"If let's say, he way nearby and I hypothetically had tried to contact him and he hypothetically was going to write back and My friends and I hypothetically were going to smuggle him into the shrieking shack at some point. What would you say to that?"  
"Well." He paused," considering your James' daughter and the hypothetical situation is most probably reality. I'd say: I'm in. He's innocent and one of my best friends, so let's do this. "  
"Good," Harriet smiled sheepishly, "because the hypothetical situation isn't hypothetical at all."  
Lupin chuckled and sat back. He and Harriet spent the rest of their time exchanging storys of their friends. Harriet was sent into fits of laughter during the ones about the pranks they'd pulled and Lupin snorted at her story of the holiday Quidditch game. The humored look turned to one of respect when Harriet told him of her meeting with the blue eagles. She also introduced him to Akira who spent most of her time up Harriet's sleeve.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment or Kudo. Thanx.


	11. Plotting becomes a hobby.

A few days later, Harriet recieved a reply from Sirius. She picked up the piece of paper with a wrinkled nose. It looked like a dog had chewed around on it. The writing was messy but still readable.

Hello Harriet,   
When's this crazy plan of yours being put into action? Sleeping under a bridge sucks! Merlin knows how Muggles do it. I heard you lot were visiting Hogsmead on Saturday. Mabye we can meet up somewhere and discuss the details.   
Your amazing and very awsome godfather,   
Sirius Black. 

"Amazing and very awsome? " Pansy asked in disbelief,"You'd think he'd be a bit more modest."  
"Psht. From the storys Lupin's told me, this is as modest as he gets." Harriet said noncholantly.   
"Fair enough." Draco said.  
"I should go tell Lupin." Harriet told them and leaving the common room. She almost ran to Lupins office and knocked on the door. The letter was still in her hand.  Lupin opened the door to let her in. He had been looking happier since they had been planning to hide Sirius away. He'd been dressing less shabby to, according to Pansy.   
"Harriet, " Lupin said happily, "How's it going? Come on in!"  
"Hello Professor,  I need to talk to you about a certain fugitive again. The plan's making progress. " Harriet grinned walking into the office. Lupin's facial features brightened.   
"Tell me all about it!" He said.  
Harriet showed him the letter.  
"A place to meet up, huh? Do you- would you mind if I came along?" He asked. He looked hopeful and worried at the same time. Harriet put the pieces together.  
"Course not! Oh, and we don't need to worry about timing when getting Sirius into the building.  I have a map from Fred and George Weasley. It's called the Marauders Map. Mabye you've heard of it. Mabye your Mssr. Moony. " She said brightly.   
"How did you figure that out?"  
"Well, for one, you told me yourself last week and ,two, you pretty much said ,'Padfoot always used to call you his little prongslet' during the conversation. My question is, how the hell did you make that thing?"  
"Well," Lupin said lightly, " I'm a genius, your dad thought he could achieve anything, Sirius was always up for mischief and Peter brought us snacks whilst encouraging our combined insane genius."  
"Makes sense." Harriet laughed. They spent the rest of the afternoon drinking tea together and talking about where the best meet up place to meet up with a wanted criminal was. When Harriet got back to the common room, Draco and Pansy were  sitting on the couch pointedly not looking at each other. Harriet sighed. This was the third time that week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment or leave a Kudo.  
> Thank you.


	12. Sneaky move.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has very little dialogue. I promise the characters will be more talkative in the next chapter.

Draco and Pansy had been arguing a lot lately. Mainly about Professor Lupin. Pansy seemed to have something against the guy. Harriet wondered if she knew that he was a werewolf. It was rather obvious. His shabby clothes, the fact that his boggart was the moon, the potion Snape had brewed for him and the fact that he was always ill at that certain time of month. All things that proved her point. It didn't take a genius to figure it out. The thing was, Pansy had something against magical creatures and if she knew that Lupin was a werewolf, she would most definitely not trust him in the slightest. Draco however, was part veela. He probably wouldn't recieve a veela inheritance due to how small that part was. He would still be fiercely protective over his friends, family and future spouse Narcissa had told Harriet. Pansy saw him as a normal human wizard and blatantly ignored any mentions of the veela part. Harriet hoped that she would one day accept magical creatures as part of society. Meanwhile, she had to smooth out whatever argument they were having.

The next week flew by and before they knew it, it was Saturday. It was also the first Hogsmeade weekend. The gang had decided that it would be best if Harriet and Lupin talked to Sirius Black alone. After all, they knew him best. The rest of them were busy with look out. Harriet and Lupin walked through the streets. Hogsmeade looked an awful lot like a medieval town. Harriet kept pointing out nice houses, shops and other things as they walked towards the meeting spot. They walked into a dark alleyway. Lupin whistling as they went. They reached the end and stopped. A man was sitting in the corner looking down.  
"Hello Padfoot."  
The man looked up,stared a moment, then rushed forward pulling Harriet and Remus into a hug. Harriet stiffened. She was practically allergic to any physical contact as her friends had quickly figured out during the first year. She'd gotten good at hiding it though so they didn't feel bad. The reason: the Dursleys. She forced herself to hug back and ignore the panic rising inside her. It was relatively obvious she failed because the man (Sirius Black her mind supplied) immediately let go. She simply nodded at his apologies. 

"It's ok." She said," Let's just focus on the plan."

Black sat back down agreeing. Lupin nodded and crouched down beside him. He was holding hands with Black so he didn't have much of a choice. Harriet leaned against the wall prefering to stay on her feet. She swiftly recapped the plan making sure everyone knew what they were doing. They had made the last minute descision to get it over with today. Harriet pulled the invisibility cloak out of her bag. Lupin pulled Black to his feet and then Harriet threw the cloak over them both. Then she gave the others the signal by sending up a smoke signal. Everything went as smoothly as possible making Harriet think there was something wrong. Nothing ever went as smoothly as this. Not even in storys. Pansy, Draco and their elbows cleared the way. Crabbe and Goyle bought so many Honeydukes sweets that all the employees were helping count or staring. This enabled Lupin, Sirius and Harriet to slip past them into the cellar and down the secret passageway easily. They raced along it, Harriet shoving the cloak back into her bag. They skidded to a halt behind the exit. Professor Dumbledore's voice reached their ears.  
They remained as still as statues listening in on the conversation who's other participant seemed to be Snape. As soon as they were sure they were gone, they threw the cloak over Black and made their way to Lupins office as quickly as possible. Lupin would take black to the Shrieking shack at midnight or when everyone was asleep. Harriet, sensing that they would need some time alone, excused herself and made her way back to the common room. Part of the conversation between Snape and Dumbledore wouldn't leave her mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment or Kudo. Thanx.


	13. Talking helps.

Sirius Black stood in Lupins office. The guy was looking at him as if he was an artifact in a glass case, something that would break if you touched it. His lips curled into a wry smile.  
"Come on Moony, I know I'm as beautiful as a rose but, believe me, I'm not as fragile. You won't break me with a hug." He said dryly.  
No sooner than the words had left his  mouth, he was pulled into a tight hug. Lupin clung to him as if he was scared that, if he let go, Black would dissolve into thin air. Sirius didn't blame him. After all, he hadn't told Moony about what had happened when he had arrived at the Potters house all those years ago. He hadn't even told him he'd been there. He hadn't told him that he'd challenged that traitor Peter Pettigrew to a duel causing that bloody rat to blow up an entire street, killing 13 Muggles in the process, and cut off his finger. All those things that he hadn't told him. Sirius had left Remus without so much as a hint as to what had been going on after the Potters had been murdered. He noticed his shoulder was slowly getting soaked. Regret creeped through his body. Remus had been hurting all these years because he had been to stupid to open his mouth. Slowly he wrapped his arms around the werewolf and said the only thing he could.  
"I'm sorry."  
It was barely a whisper and his voice had cracked but he was sure Remus had heard him because the arms around him tightened even more. A while later Remus pulled back and said the words Sirius had been awaiting and dreading.   
"We need to talk." Lupins voice was firm and left no room for arguing. Sirius merely nodded, took a deep breath and began at the moment he'd started getting suspicious of Pettigrews involvement with Dumbledore. This was going to take a while.

Meanwhile, Harriet was laying on her bed and staring at nothing in particular. She thought back to the intel she had gathered on each of the Marauders. 

James Potter: Prongs, her father, best friend to Sirius Black, top marks in all classes except Potions and Herbology, Seeker, Gryffindor.   
Sirius Black: Padfoot, her godfather, average grades because of not caring, prankster supreme, probably in a relationship with Remus Lupin, only Gryffindor in the Black family, victim of child abuse, disowned, confidence, popular with ladies and gents (pre Azkaban ), beater, Gryffindor.   
Remus Lupin: Moony, werewolf, smart, top marks in everything, definitely likes Sirius Black, great teacher, scared of himself, Gryffindor.  
Peter Pettigrew: Wormtail, bottom marks in school, traitorous asshole, coward, spineless jerk, was sorted into Gryffindor, belonged in the trash.

Harriet closed her eyes. She needed to figure out where Wormtail was, catch him, get him to confess, make sure he gets sent to Azkaban and make sure Dumbledore doesn't catch wind of it. She needed a really good plan for that! One she currently couldn't think up, much to her annoyance. She decided to contact Tom. He'd know what to do, right?

In Lupins office,  Sirius had just finished spilling his guts.   
"- and that's when I got sentenced to Azkaban. Merlin, Moony, I'm so sorry! I should have talked to you. I should have told you everything-"  He rambled.   
"Yes. You should have. Why didn't you? " Remus cut across him," We don't keep secrets from each other, remember? You promised me that!"  
"I know!" Sirius said looking like a kicked puppy," And I know there is nothing- NOTHING- I can do that will ever make up for all the pain I put you through by breaking that promise and I understand if you don't want me around anymore."  
Lupin looked close to tears again.  
"I forgave you for that a long time ago." He said quietly,"and no matter what you do I will always forgive you. Giving you that level of absolute trust again, is a different matter."  
Sirius hung his head. He had screwed up and he knew it. He gave a slight nod when Remus told him to get some rest whilst he went to the great hall for dinner, promising to bring Sirius something to eat. After he'd left, Black curled up into a ball in the corner and drifted into a restless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment or Kudo. Thanx.   
> Also, Remus and Sirius: couple or really close friends? Let me know. I mean I think I accidentally wrote some subtext into the chapter and Harriet seems to think they'd be a likely couple, but I'm giving you lot the vote on this one.


	14. Pettigrew really is a rat.

Lighting flashed outside the windows causing some of the first years to nearly jump out of their skins. Due to the atrocious weather forecast for the month, all the planned Quidditch matches had been cancelled. The very unhappy Gryffindor captain, Oliver Wood, had filed many complaints. So many, that his slightly annoyed team had staged an intervention. Due to a crack in the Slytherin common room wall, and the flooding, the Slytherins had been moved to a temporary common room that wasn't under the lake. They had to share dorms with the other houses. Harriet had been ecstatic to find out she'd be staying with the Ravenclaws. 

Sirius had made himself at home in the shrieking shack. He'd even repaired lots of the destroyed furniture. Sure, the place still looked shabby, but at least it no longer took the appearance of a bomb site. It was progress.  
On one of Harriet's visits there, he had casually dropped the fact that he, her father and Peter Pettigrew were animagi. Her reaction was completely different than what she'd expected. Instead of completely freaking out and going on about how that was illegal, she raised an eyebrow and asked what forms they had taken.  
"Well," he said, "I was a black dog, James was a Stag and Pettigrew was a rat."  
"Figures." Harriet said, "Care to tell me more about it?"  
Sirius looked at her surprised.  
"Oh, come on, you really can't expect me to find out my father and godfather are animagi and not want to know any more about the subject." She elaborated for him. Sirius put on his thinking face. Harriet seemed so calm. If Lilly and James had been in her situation they'd have both flipped the table. She was reacting more like Moony would've. In the end he nodded and spilled all the info. 

When Harriet got back to the castle, Akira was waiting on her guest bed in the Ravenclaw tower.  
"So, any idea on how to catch Pettigrew yet?" Akira asked slithering around her neck.  
"No, but I did find out that his animagus form is a rat." Harriet replied sighing.   
"Figures."the snake snorted.  
"It doesn't help our case though! There are quite a few rats in Hogwarts. " Harriet sighed.  
"I bet there's only one with a missing claw!" Akira said brightly.  
Harriet's head snapped to look at her.  
"And... The only rat with a missing claw I've ever seen is..."Akira continued.  
"Weasel's rat!"Harriet gasped finishing the sentence for her, "Akira, you're brilliant!"  
"I know, I'm amazing.", said Akira slithering under the bed, "Good luck!"  
Harriet jumped up and ran to find her friends or at least one of them. She found Theo in the common room. Without warning she yanked him up by the collar and towed him along. They met Draco and Pansy halfway down a flight of stairs. They got dragged along aswell until Harriet found an empty classroom that was good enough.  
"It's Weasels rat!" ,she panted.  
She was met with confused stairs and questioning looks.  
"Pettigrew is Weasels rat! He's an animagus.", she elaborated. Looks of understanding dawned on the others faces.  
"OK, how do we get him?", Draco asked.  
"That's the part I'm still working on.", Harriet admitted, "but we definitely need to sneak into Gryffindor tower, grab him, turn him back, notify the Aurors, get him to confess and get him locked up. Any bright ideas?"  
Everyone shook their heads. Harriet looked at them disbelievingly.   
"Why don't you ask Sirius?" Pansy tried.  
"Or Professor Lupin?" Draco suggested.  
Harriet sighed. She really wished there was Internet at Hogwarts. Speaking of which...  
"Anyone know where Cassie and Jiyu are?", she asked suddenly. Draco and Pansy shook their heads.  
"Cassie is probably in the Library." Theo said not really knowing where she was going with this, but then again, no one ever did. 

Harriet raced towards the Library.   
"Come on!" She called grabbing Jiyu's hand and dragging her along. Jiyu, obviously confused, let it happen. There was no arguing with Harriet. Ever. They speedwalked through the library and sat down at a table with Cassie.  
"Internet." Harriet panted.  
Cue confused looks. Harriet rolled her eyes.  
"We need Internet! How do we get it to work in Hogwarts?", she said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the long wait. This took a while to write and I've been really busy with school and getting my sh*t together.   
> Comment or Kudo.  
> Thanx.


	15. Plotting requires a great mind and Internet.

"So, this is the room of requirement." Harriet said, "Impressive. How did you find it?"  
"Easy." Jiyu shrugged,"I'm friends with the famous Weasley twins! We were running from Filch in our second year because we accidentally broke a rule or forty-seven and we tripped into here. It's one of Helga Hufflepuffs finer creations, gives you whatever you require regardless of house,family and Status."  
"How do you accidentally break forty-seven rules?" Pansy asked.   
"By doing what we wanted and not knowing that said rules existed. Granted, we didn't exactly read the rule book." explained Jiyu shrugging.  
"Hold up! There's a rule book?!" Harriet exclaimed.   
"Yeah, that suprised me too. Did you know that you can alter your uniform however you want as long as it's still recognizable and that it's completely ok to challenge someone to a duel if they insult your house and family?" Jiyu grinned.  
"Wait, duel?" Pansy asked seemingly horrified.   
"Yeah, a duel to the death. Rule 243, check it out." Jiyu said casually checking her nails. Pansy looked ready to faint. Harriet filed away the information for later use. She had to get her hands on a rule book.  
Jiyu pulled a few tiny boxes out of her robe pockets and set them down.  
"Engorgio!" she cried pointing her wand at them. The boxes grew back to their original size. Together they assembled the monitor. After casting a few charms it flickered to life. Harriet let out a whoop of delight. She  and Jiyu began setting up the system and installing the search engine Google. After the girls were done Jiyu turned to Harriet and said, "I have no idea what you're up to, but if you need anything or want a teacher gone temporarily, just let me or the twins know, OK?"  
"Thanks, and I will." Harriet replied smiling. As soon as Jiyu was gone, she opened Google and typed in 'what is the fastest way to catch a rat?'.  
A few hours and many searches later, she had all the necessary information to start with her master plan. Now she just had to switch on the plotting part of her brain.

The Weasley twins and Jiyu were sitting on the roof.  
"You know, I really worry about Harriet sometimes." Jiyu said.  
"No wonder. With Dumbledore trying to watch her every move-" Fred said.  
"And her Godfather being hunted down by dementors. That's got to be mentally tiring!" George finished his train of thought.  
"You know what I'm thinking?" Jiyu asked grinning.  
"Absolutely. "George said.  
"Definitely worth the detention." Fred smirked.  
"To be honest, everybody could use the down time." they chorused.   
"Five years spent with you guys and that still creeps me out to a certain degree." Jiyu laughed. With evil smirks the got to work.

Harriet banged her head on the table repeatedly.  
"Nothing! I got nothing! Damn- stupid- useless- empty- brain."  
"Ok, Harriet, let's move away from the table." Pansy coaxed her over to the couch. Immediately Harriet grabbed all the pillows and curled into a ball around them. Why couldn't she think of anything? Why? Where was her brain when she needed it? Perhaps she should have gotten some sleep instead of drinking all those energy drinks. Nah. She could sleep another time. She had to prove her godfather innocent and protect her friends. Had Pansy always had such a boopable nose? Heh, boopable. She burst into a fit of giggles.   
Pansy looked at her friend concerned. She was shaking all over. The giggles and the slightly crazy look in her eye made the whole thing scarier. Suddenly, Harriet leaned over the side of the couch clutching her stomach. Pansy quickly grabbed her a bucket and held her hair back whilst she threw up. She needed to take better care of herself. This just wouldn't do. Gently, she guided Harriet to the dorm and placed her on her bed. Tucking her in, she made sure Harriet's head was in a position she could throw up in without drowning in her own puke. A few minutes later Harriet was out cold. All great Plans came from a great mind. However, if this mind was high on energy drinks, the creation of such a plan would have to wait.

The next morning classes had somehow been cancelled. Needless to say the twins and Jiyu were hiding out in a broom cupboard whilst Filch was running around school looking for them.  
Harriet woke up and flinched. The sun was far too bright, her head hurt and she felt like she had no energy whatsoever. She groaned closing her eyes again. She felt someone trying to get her to sit up and complied. A glass of water was pressed to her lips. Immediately, she gulped it down.  
"Mabye stay away from the energy drinks for a while." Pansy said.  
Harriet simply pulled the covers over her head again and went back to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't replace sleep with energy drinks. It's really not a good idea.   
> Comments and Kudos are always appreciated.   
> Sorry this took so long.  
> XOX  
> Drachma20


	16. Evidentiary support and Operation Wolfstar

After a refreshing day off, Pansy felt thrilled to recieve the notification that divination had been cancelled due to unforseen circumstances. She didn't like Trilewany and the subject was unnecessary to her success and that of her friends. She snapped the book she had been reading shut. It was titled 'werewolves: pack dynamics and mates'. When she had asked Harriet wether or not Remus and Sirius were a couple, her friend had simply rolled her eyes and given her the book, ordering her to read it. Yes, Remus and Sirius had that wonderful Alpha/Alpha female dynamic. They were definitely a couple. Or, at least, they had been and had a slightly broken relationship.   
They had to fix that. Operation Wolfstar commence. Wait! She needed Harriet. 

Harriet was lounging around in the dorm reading a book on animagi. Her reason? Curiosity (with a side of catching a certain rat). She needed to know exactly how to identify one and find a spell to change them back. She would also need to find a potions book with a recipe for a truth serum.   
Suddenly, Pansy burst in. She skidded to a halt in front of her.  
"Harriet, I need your help!" she puffed, completely out of breath.  
Harriet raised an eyebrow.   
"What for?" she enquired.   
"Operation Wolfstar!"  
"Operation what?"  
"Wolfstar! We're getting a certain werewolf and godfather to fix their relationship. It's so annoying watching them chase after each other like lost puppies!" Pansy elaborated.   
"Ok."  
"Ok?"  
"Ok, I'm in."  
"Brilliant!"

Meanwhile, Draco and Blaise were sitting in the corner of the library figuring out what the laws concerning animagi were. Of course, they were focused on the most recent version of the wizarding law. It had been officiated in 1642. The book looked like it was held together by lots of magic and an extraordinary amount of faith. They had already had to use sticking charms to reattach several of the books pages to the spine. 

On the other side of the castle, Hermione, backed up by Theo, Crabbe, Goyle and Cassie, was forging a plan which would allow them to contact some aurors and get them to arrest Pettigrew.   
Jiyu and the twins were mainly focused on keeping Ron and the other undesired away from the Circlet members. They had been joined by Percy Weasley, Penelope Clearwater, Oliver Wood, Hannah Abbot,  Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas and the Slytherin, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff Quidditch teams. Not to mention several Ravenclaw study groups. Granted, most of them had no idea what was going on, but if it meant messing with one of the most unpopular people in school they were all for it. Due to this, the Circlet had overboard security. 

Harriet skidded around a corner. She was trying to find Remus, when, "Potter!"  
Professor Snape. Of course. Who else?  
"My office! Now!"  
Harriet followed the teacher into his closet sized potions cabinet. There really was no other word for it.  
"Sit." Snape ordered. Harriet sat.  
"It has come to my attention that you and several other students have been harbouring a wanted criminal in a certain haunted house." Snape spoke.  
Harriet paled. How did he know?  
"It has also come to my attention that said criminal happens to have been framed for a crime he didn't commit and is entirely innocent." he continued.   
Alright, she hadn't been expecting that.  
"You and your fellow students, obviously feeling the need to make the ministry aware of this and catch the real culprit are cooking up a ploy involving a truth serum correct?" the Professor questioned. Harried nodded.  
"Then I should under no circumstances allow you to continue."  
Harriet's heart sank.  
"I should also not inform you that I would recommend using veritaserum for the truth serum."  
Harriet's eyes widened in shock.  
"I definitely should not allow the information that the headmaster is away next week slip out and I really should not recommend speaking to Professor McGonagall about identifying and capturing an animagus. Have I made myself clear?" Snape finished with a smirk.  
Harriet's jaw had dropped. Hurriedly she closed it and said, "Crystal clear, sir."  
"Dismissed."  
Harriet got up and made to leave the room. Before she did however, she turned around and said, "Thank you."  
As soon as she had closed the door to his office she went back to searching for Lupin. The castle couldn't be that large, surely!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Voilà, Wolfstar as a couple (sorta)!   
> Comment who you think should catch Pettigrew. McGonagall or Crookshanks?   
> Let me know!   
> Leave a Kudo if you feel like it. I love those!  
> Thanks, Drachma20


	17. Wolfy Wolf and Black Dog.

"Professor Lupin!" Harriet yelled leaping down a flight of stairs and rushing over to the man.  
"Harriet," smiled Lupin, "What can I do for you?"  
"It has to do with that thing you were talking about in class the other day."  
"Oh?"  
"Yeah, page 943. The difference between a werewolf and animagi, more specifically dog animagi."  
Realization dawned on Lupins face.  
"How about we talk about it over a cup of tea in my office?" he proposed. It was quite the delicate subject.  
Harriet grinned, "Sure!"

"So, how long have you - er - known?" Lupin asked sitting down whilst handing Harriet a teacup.  
"That you and Sirius are a couple?"  
"Yes."  
"Oh, a while. You're not very subtle about it."  
"And you're ok with it?"  
"Yeah. You're cute together. Pansy's started calling you Wolfstar."  
"Wolf- what?!"  
"Wolfstar."  
"How in the world of boggarts in the cupboard did she come up with that?!"  
"Simple. Your name literally translates  to Wolf Wolf and Snuffles is named after the dog star. Therefore, you are Wolfstar."  
Lupin facepalmed. Harriet couldn't blame him. Pansy's names for couples could be a little... wierd.  
"Anyway," Harriet said going straight for it, "You two seem to be having trouble in paradise. What's up?"  
Lupin sighed.  
"It's complicated," he began, "It all started after your parents death, Pettigrews betrayal and his trip to Azkaban."   
He took a deep breath. Harriet motioned for him to continue speaking. After a solid three minutes he did. He told her everything. How Sirius had closed off after Lilly and James Potter died,  how he had known nothing of his plan to hunt down Pettigrew, how heartbroken he had been to hear that Sirius had been taken to Azkaban, how he himself had tried to find Pettigrew so he could tear him to shreds and everything else.   
Harriet listened patiently. This was the first time she had heard Lupins side of the story. It was much darker than she had expected. When Remus had finished talking, they sat in silence for a bit. Then Harriet spoke.  
"I think Sirius should hear this. The complete side of your story, I mean. You probably only told him half, am I right?"  
Lupin stared at her.  
"Think about it," Harriet continued, "You're not getting anywhere by keeping secrets from each other. As far as I know, relationships are built on trust. You probably should have a nice long heart to heart, kiss and make up, because let's face it, you guys are falling apart. It's almost painful to watch!"  
Lupin seemed to be mulling this over.  
Harriet decided to leave him to it. He would most likely talk to Sirius and get everything sorted out. Meanwhile, she had to focus on the rat running around th castle. The question was, who could they trust?  
Harriet thought back. Hadn't Snape mentioned something about speaking to McGonagall? Could she really trust his advice? Well, she could give it a shot. She made her way up a flight of stairs and walked towards McGonagalls office. She raised a fist and knocked three times. After a minute of waiting with her breath held, she heard a, "Come in."

She opened the door and stepped inside.  
"Ms. Potter," McGonagall said, "What can I do for you?"  
"I have a few Questions." Harriet said more calmly than she felt.  
McGonagall put down her newspaper. It was obvious her interest had been awoken. Harriet took a deep breath.  
"They are about Animagi.  More specifically identifying them," she said.   
"Well, Ms. Potter, I can certainly help you there. I don't suppose this has to do with a certain rat does it?"  
Harriets jaw dropped.   
"How did you know?"  
"Pettigrew isn't as subtle as he thinks. Leave catching him to me. You organize the rest. You seem to have a talent for that. Have a nice day."   
Harriet nodded at that, got up with a stammered 'good day' and walked out of the office in a daze of sorts. She needed to bring the plan into action. Operation Rat trap.   
She needed to find her friends as soon as possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what did you think?   
> The next chapter will be out as soon as possible.  
> XOX, Drachma.


	18. Case Closed

A tabby cat prowled the school. It had been seen often by the students and was loved dearly by the first years (much to it's disapproval). The older students mainly ignored it. The only thing that stood out about it were the spectacle shaped markings around its eyes. The cat pounced. A rat was swiftly caught.

Harriet and the circlet were as busy as they could be. Theo, Hermione and Pansy were busy writing a letter to the Ministry of Magic to notify them of the fact that hey had caught a wanted criminal. Harriet had gathered every piece of evidence she could including a secret keeper contract that stated that Pettigrew had been her parents secret keeper. She had done a lot of searching, but she had finally found it. Crabbe and Goyle were busy keeping Ronald Weasley from Bothering anyone. Draco had sneaked some veritaserum out of Snape's office. The rest of the Circlet had their respective tasks.

A couple of hours later, Harriet ended up in McGonagalls office. There was a jar on the desk. Harriet gaped. McGonagall had caught Pettigrew. Bloody hell! Harriet mad a mental note never to get on McGonagalls bad side.  
"Well, Ms. Potter, a rat as requested. I'm suprised at how easy it was to catch him. Really, I do hope that if you ever intend to become an animagus you will be more careful." said the professor.  
"Professor, you are bloody awsome!" Harriet exclaimed.  
"Why thank you for that assessment. Now do contact the ministry already and get this traitor locked in Azkaban.  I feel it would be beneficial to everyone."  
"Yes ma'am."

Harriet scooped up the Jar with airholes that was containing a terrified looking rat with one missing claw and stuffed it into he bag. Then she ran all the way to the great hall where the Circlet was waiting for her. They were all crowded around a fireplace. As soon as she joined them, everyone looked at her expectantly. She pulled the Jar out of her bag.

"Blimey, Harriet, how did you manage that?" Hermione asked, "You must have done some serious research on animagi to have been able to catch him that quickly!"  
"Nope. I just used simple logic and asked McGonagall for help. Not to mention Snape gave me a few hints."  
"Snape?"  
"Yes. Status update please."  
"Well we have everything sorted and we're just waiting for the ministry to show up."  
"Excellent!"  
There was a flash of green and the minister of magic, Cornelious Fudge in person strode out of the fireplace, followed by several aurors and a guy that was evidently keeping protocol.  
"Way to make an entrance!" Harriet gasped. Then, realizing she had said that out loud, she added, "Sorry sir, here's Pettigrew."  
Fudge looked at the rat in the jar. He paled.  
"This cannot be,  he was declared dead over 12 years ago." he said in an awed tone.  
"Yes." Harriet replied, "He was declared dead. However, only a finger was found. That happened to be the finger he cut off. We have the very alive Pettigrew right here along with proof that Sirius Black is, in fact, innocent."  
Gasps ran through the aurors. The protocol guy dropped his quill. Fudges eyes went wide.  
"Well then, Ms. Potter, I would be interested to listen to your tale."  
"Tea?" Pansy asked.  
Everyone turned to look at her. Then at the houselves next to her who were carrying a tea set, tea and an array of various treats. Then back to her.  
"What?" She asked shrugging, "It's better than nothing, not to mention the cakes look superb!"  
"I think that sounds like a good idea," said Harriet turning back to the minister, "Shall we?"  
After a nod. Everyone sat down for a cup while Harriet carefully explained everything to the Minister, his Aurors and the protocol guy who was scribbling furiously. She then presented her evidence. Apparently turning Pettigrew into a human and forcing veritaserum down his throat wasn't necessary any longer, because no more than half an hour later, had Pettigrew been whisked off to Azkaban and Sirius declared a free man. In the following weeks this was made official and Pettigrew was punished by dementors kiss.   
A dementors kiss was something reserved for only the worst of criminals. Long story short, you lost your soul.

Harriet noticed with joy that Dumbledore seemed to be pissed off about the fiasco. He seemed even more pissed off that it had been behind his back. She really looked forward to what was left of the year. Nothing could ruin it for her now!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, almost the end of this book! Only a few more things left to do. Thanks to all my readers! You guys are amazing.  
> XOX Drachma.


	19. All's well that ends well.

The rest of the year flew by. Slytherin won the house cup and Quidditch cup again. 

There were new couples too. Everyone was suprised when Slytherin Quidditch captain Marcus Flint kisses Gryffindor captain Oliver Wood in front of the entire school. Not to mention Jiyu Burokami and George Weasley had started dating.  
"About time!" Fred had stated grinning from ear to ear.

The exams had gone by in a flash. Ravenclaw had an average of 98% and didn't care. The valued learning, not grades. Gryffindor had an average of 83% (much to Hermiones dissapointment) and couldn’t stop bragging. Hufflepuff had an average of 96% and had thrown a party. They had had the benefit of being right next to the kitchen and invited everyone they liked from other houses. Even some of the teachers had been there. Slytherin had an average of 95% due to several carefully formed and well placed death threats in the margins of their papers.

Harriet had been ecstatic to find out that she was going to be living with her Godfathers. Yes, Remus and Sirius had finally gotten it together and repaired their relationship. They were getting married over summer.

Percy Weasley had completed his seven years at Hogwarts and gotten a job at the ministry. Oliver Wood was going to keep playing Quidditch. Marcus Flint was taking over his families business. They made racing brooms.

Harriet had picked up sword fighting. The painting of Sir Cadogan had agreed to instruct her and wouldn't stop going on about it. By the end of the year she was deemed excellent by a ladys standards. She had also decided to keep divination as a filler subject. You never knew when you might need to pose as a seer or something. Also, her impressions of Trilewany kept people entertained.

On the train to King's Cross everyone who was part of the Circlet crammed into one compartment with Remus. The werewolf found himself stuck between Harriet and Theo who were bickering about spells the entire way. He ended up joining in.  
Sirius was already at home. 

Once they got off the train, Narcissa marched right up to Lupin and clearly stated that if Harriet wasn't happy, she would turn him and Sirius into fur coats. Lucius simply wished them good luck and offered to meet up for a drink sometime stating that all parents needed one on occasion. 

Once Lupin and Harriet arrived at 12 Grimauld Place (their new home) they were greeted by a lot of hugs from Sirius. Lupin mentioned he was getting a new job in the ministry in the department of education. Harriet had conflicted feelings about this.  
"On the one hand, I'm really happy for you, on the other, Moony, you're the best teacher we've ever had!" were her exact words.  
They spent the rest of the day talking about everything that happened over the past 3 years. Apparently, Sirius and Remus felt guilty for missing her first two years at Hogwarts. 

After Harriet had gone to bed, Remus and Sirius flopped down  on the couch in the living room.  
"I'm so happy we have our pup back!" Lupin stated sighing contently.   
"Took us long enough." Sirius snorted, kissing him on the cheek.  
"True. Good thing she doesn't hate us." Remus sighed.  
"Why would she hate us?" Sirius quiered.  
"We left her alone for so long with the Dursleys and we didn't even try to contact her." Lupin sniffed looking like a kicked puppy.  
Sirius rolled his eyes. Werewolves, honestly!   
"I'm pretty sure she loves us. Besides, she went to all that trouble to get me out of trouble, got us to fix our relationship and managed to do it so well, that we could be a family again!" he grinned giving Remus another kiss on the cheek, making him smile happily again. As far as a perfect end to the year could go, this seemed pretty damn close to Sirius. Especially when Remus grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and kissed him for all he was worth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of the story. Hope you liked it! Keep your eyes peeled for part four.  
> Thanx, Drachma.

**Author's Note:**

> Comment or Kudo. Thanx.


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